Hour and/or minute code marker

ABSTRACT

A marking device for marking moving objects with the specific time in hours and/or minutes or other continuously varying data is comprised of a revolvable carrier drum having a means for physical contact with the object for rotation thereby and biasing means to return the drum to a rest or zero position after the object is marked, said carrier drum having at least one electric motor suitably geared to a pointer to rotate a shaft one complete revolution per given period of time, a slip ring assembly also housed within the drum assembly to transmit electric power from a stationary source to the electric motor; the drum having on its external surface a printing surface designating time or other data and surrounding the pointer which also comprises a printing pad.

United States Patent Davis, II

[54] HOUR AND/0R MINUTE cone MARKER [72] Inventor: Patrick Delligatti,c/o Dalemark I ndustries Inc., 143 Rogers Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11216 [221 Filed: o.1a,197 1 211 Appl.No.: 188,739

[52] US. Cl. ..346/92, 101/35, 346/81 [51] Int. Cl ..-.G07c 1/02, 1341f 17/00 [58] Field 01 Search "346/81, 88, 92; 101/35 [56] I References Cited 1 UNITED STATES PATENTS 637,315 11/1 899 Wilson ..346/92 3,327,624 6/1967 Beaver "101/35 Primary Examiner-Joseph l-lartary Attorney-Donald A. Gardiner, Jr.

[451 Oct. 31, 1972 [57] ABSTRACT A marking device for marking moving objects with the specific time in hours and/or minutes or other continuously varying data is comprised of a revolvable carrier drum having a means for physical contact with the object for rotation thereby and biasing means to return the drum to a rest or zero position after the object is marked, said carrier drum having at least one electric motor suitably geared to a pointer to rotate a shaft one complete revolution per given period of time, a slip ring assembly also housed within the drum assembly to transmit electric power from a stationary source to the electric motor; the drum having on its external surface a printing surface designating time or .7 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEU I973 3.702.000

SHEET 1 BF 2 Fig./

F 2 INVENTOR.

.VPAITENIEDBCTSIVIIHIQZ 13 702000 -snauznrz AT ORNEYS 1 a t HOUR AND/R MINUTE CODE MARKER BACKGROUND Modern manufacturing processes often require closecontrols. In order to obtain data-necessary to effect can be found, for example, in a manufacturing or packaging operation wherein the operators of certain machines are on multiple shifts and are paid, either-on a regular or bonus basis computed from thenumber of items processed during agiven period of time. Thus, the most reliable check and means of compiling data for pay purposes is obtained by marking the items with the date of the day and the specific time, in hours or minutes, at which the item was processed. It is thus a relatively easy job to physically check the items in the event of a disputeor where correlation of the time with other information becomes necessary.

' There aredevices which can be used to note time.

Suchdevices are generally manual stamping devices provided with a clockwork-or similar mechanism of continuously .variable nature associated with a printout means. Such devices, all relating to time print out, as shown in German patent 854,442 dated Nov."4, 1952; also U.S.- Pat.- Nos. 2,137,493 and 1,353,994 among others showinga manually operated time printing stamp. v

It is also known that there are in existence automatic stamp cancelling machines used to provide date and time data in postal operations. While the detailsof such machines-are not known, it-is believed that they are relatively complex and rely on a reciprocating press arrangement to stamp the objects. In addition, such machinesare designed for very limited use on objects such as envelopes'or similar relatively flat objects.

' THE INVENTION The present invention provides a printing machine or device which will automatically print objects with indicia of varying nature. The device is capable of broad utility, is portable in that it may be readily moved from one production line to another and finally, is completely automatic in operation, once set, both as to the information printed and the imprinting of individual articles. Since an obvious form of the invention is to imprint time at which a certain operation was performed, the

. means, said drum being mounted on a shaft for rotation and having an internal cam and follower means whereby after rotation the drum always is biased to an at rest or zero position; said printing means being comprised by fixed indicia surrounding a movable indicator printing means, said latter means being driven by an internally disposed power means including an electric motor and a slip ring assembly whereby power from a cable connected to a conventional stationary plug may be transmitted to the electric motor at all times regardless of the angular position and/or movement of the drum about its axis during contact with an object to be imprinted. i

Having described the'invention in its broad aspects with the obvious objects that flow from the device as set forth, a more detailed description thereof is set forth hereinafter with reference being made to the attached drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a time marking device comprising the invention as mounted adjacent a conveying line, i

FIG. 2 is a side, partial sectional view showing the interiorof the printing device of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3is a top sectional view taken along theline 3- 3 of FIG. 2, certain parts removed for clarity,

FIG. 4 isa topplan view of the slip ring, while FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5 -5 of FIG. 4.

The drawings, in particular FIG. 1, show the device comprising the present invention mounted on a support 2 and positioned such that at least a portion of the peripheral surface of drum 10 will be contacted by a moving object such as a box 1 shown in outline form traveling inthe direction of the arrows. Since the support may take a variety of forms depending on where it is desired to imprint information on the object, it will not be discussed further and forms a part of the invention only insofar as a support for the drum and its related inking device is necessary.

As further shown in FIG. 1, the articles, for illustrative purposes shown as cartons, are carried-on a conveying surface 3 having a conventional frame structure 5 all of conventional form. The articles'or cartons are thus moved from right to left, as shown in the drawings. The support 2 is biased by a spring pivot assembly designated generally at20 so that the printing drum 10 will contact each article as it passes by.

As will be described, a suitable cam and follower mechanism, the subject matter of the application of Patrick Delligatti, Ser. No. 778,697, filed Nov. 25, 1968, now abandoned is provided whereby the drum 10 is maintained at a given rest position until contacted by an article, such as carton l and is rotated thereby. When the article 1 passes and no longer contacts the drum, the aforesaid mechanism returns the drum 10 to the precise rest position from which it began its rotation.

Also mounted on support 2 is a rotary inking device 7 which also is of conventional design and being projvided with a porous or ink retentive cylindrical surface which contacts the printing areas of the circumferential surface of drum 10. Thus, as the drum is rotated by contact with article 1, it does so in a counter-clockwise direction as shown in FIG. 1 so that'the printing areas first contact the inking device 7 and thereafter contact the cartons or articles 1 to thus assure that a clear sharp printed impression is deposited on the articles as they pass along on conveyor 3. 9

Turning now to FIGS. 2 and 3, the printing drum assembly 10 is illustrated in detail. As shown, the drum assembly is mounted on support 2 for rotation about a support shaft 11. This shaft in turn is surrounded by upper and lower anti-friction bearings 13 and 15. These bearings are, in turn, locked into annular bearing seats 17, 19 provided in upper and lower drum heads 21, 23 respectively.

The lower end of shaft 1 1 is surrounded by a cylindrical collar 27 having an annular shoulder 29 bearing against the end of shaft 11 and fixed there by means of. a machine screw 31. Collar 27 is seated in a bore 33 in support 2 where it is retained by means of set screw 35 so that the entire shaft '11,'and collar 27 are held stationary with respect to support 2. The. lower drum head 23 mounted on anti-friction bearing isfree to rotate with respect to shaft 11 and it in turn supports cylindrical housing 37 at its peripheral edge. The mating faces of the drum head and housing edge are so configured that, when the two are assembled concentricity of the housing and head, as well as the housing with shaft 11, is assured. Further, suitable cap screws 39 hold the drum 23 head and housing 37 properly assembled.

The housing 37 also has drum head 21 assembled thereon. Drum head 21 also is mated to the edge of housing 37 as to assure concentricity with shaft 11 being assembled in place via cap screws 41, as shown.

Surrounding shaft 11 in order of ascendancy are a slidable cam 43,a coilspring 45 and a spring anchor 47. Spring anchor 47 abuts against a spacer 49, a slip ring assembly 50, the latter bearing against the underside of drum head 21.

Cam 43 has a 'slot 51 therein said slot engaging a pin 53 extending through shaft 11 whereby the cam may move axially along said shaft but is rotated with the shaft. The lower edge 55 of the cam defines a lobe having a sinusoidal configuration providing one high point and one low point. This surface engages a cam follower 57 consisting of a roller mounted on an upstanding support 59. I

Briefly, the operation of the cam is to return the drum assembly to a rest or zero position prior to its contact with an article. Thus, asshaft ll andthe drum assembly is rotated the cam follower 57 riding on the cam lobe 55 causes the cam to move upward against the bias of spring 45. When the drum assembly is free of contact with an article, the bias of the spring 45 on cam 43 causes the follower to rotate the whole assembly until the follower 57 again is positioned in the low point of the surface 55.

Also mounted, as has been stated, on shaft 11 is a slip ring assembly 50. This assembly includes a metal hub 61, to which is bonded a disc-shaped insulator 63. Hub 61 also is provided with a diametrically moving set screw 65 which is used to fix the assembly on said shaft 11 so that it, too, is stationary on the shaft 11.

The disc-like insulator 63 has a pair of concentric conductive rings 67 69 which are securely bonded to the top surface thereof as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

As shown in FIG. 4, the inner ring 69 is provided with a small outwardly extending connector ear 71, while the outer ring 67 is provided with an inwardly extending connector ear 73, disposed adjacent to but electrically insulated from connector ear 71.

The underside of the insulator disc 63 is provided with a diametrically extending channel 75. This channel receives a pairof flexible electrical conductors 77, 79, the respective ends of which are conductively connected to the connector lugs 71, 73 of the rings 67, 69

as by soldering or the like. The conductors 77, 79 are carried up through the hub 61 for the purpose to be subsequently described.

Once the electrical conductors 77 and 79 have been attached to the lugs 71 and 73, the flexible conductors are pulled tightly into the channel and the whole is filled with an insulating potting compound 76 which completely fills the channel and is smoothed off to conform to the bottom face of the disc 63. It might be mentioned that the hub 61 is also provided with an extension of the channel so that the flexible conductors extend into the center of hub 61. By this structure the flexible conductors are held securely in place and all load is removed from the soldered connections since the potting compound used is-an epoxy resin which is contacting ends to assure that a positive electrical contact is maintained at all times between themselves and the rings. i

Also sandwiched between the insulator bars and in firm face-to-face contact with the fixed ends of brushes 81, 83 are a pair of L-shaped bus bars 89, 91. These bars have terminal ends projecting outwardly of the overall sandwich of parts and provided with apertures 93, as and for the purpose to be described hereinafter.

Again directing attention in particular to FIGS. 2 and 3, it will be seen that cylindrical housing 37 is provided at a given point in its circumferential surface with an aperture 101 and a plurality of inwardly extending hollow bosses 103, 103' disposed above and below the aperture 101. In abutment with the inner ends of these bosses is an electric motor assembly 105. The motor assembly is comprised of a basic synchronous low amperage -120 volt motor and a drive train of gears whereby the constant rotary speed of the motor is converted to a constant rotation relative to time at the final output shaft. Such motor assemblies properly geared to produce one complete output shaft rotation per hour or per 24 hours may be purchased on the open market in which one source is Hansen Manufacturing Co., Inc., Princeton, Indiana, whose products are known under the name Synchron. self-starting motors, timing machines and clock movements.

The motor assembly is held in abutment with lugs 103, 103' by suitable cap screws 107 with its output shaft 109 disposed within the interior of the drum assembly 10. e

As shown in FIG. 2, the motor output shaft is connected by friction fit within an indicator drive shaft 1 11 which also extends through the wall of housing 37 and is locked in place by means of horseshoe lock 113. The outer end of the indicator shaft 111 terminates in an enlarged head 115 on which is affixed an indicator 117. in this case the indicator is in the form of a delta shaped pointer as clearly shown in FIG. 1. The indicator is made of an ink receptive resilient substance such as rubber andprojects outwardly from the wall of housing 27 to form a printing member.

As further shown in FIG. 1, the outer surface of housing 27 is provided with a further printing member 120' which has its circumference in the same general circumference in which the movable indicator 117 lies. Disposed on this printing member 120 which is an armate plate-like pad suitably fixed to the outer surface of housing 27 are numerals arranged in circular array around the peripheryof the path of the moving pointer. As shown in FIG. 1, the numerical array may be either 1-12 for hour designation or 1-60 for minute designation. I

As shown in FIG. 3, a second motor assembly 105' is provided when the two time factors are to be printed. Since the motor assembly and mounting details are identical except, of course; the speed of output shaft 109'.

' As shown clearly in FlGs. 1 and 2, in addition to the printing members, the outer surface of the drum assembly is provided with a pair of annular upper and lower friction members adapted to engage the moving articles to turn the drum. These members 130, 130' fabricated of a resilient material having a relatively high coefficient of friction-assure positive rotation of the printing device when it is contacted bya passing ar ticle.

Considering again the structure shown particularly in FIG. 2, it will be seen that each motor 109, 109 is provided with conventional electrical leads 131, 133 and these leads are attached according to conventional practice tothe connector ends 93, 95 of the bus members 8 9, 91. Thus, electric current which is generated at slip, ring assembly 50 is supplied to the motors 105,

105'. For the purpose of conducting electrical energy 1 to the slip ring assembly 50, the flexible conductors 79, 77 (see FIG. 5) are fed up through a passage 137 provided in the center of shaft 11 and onto a junction box 139 where they are connected by conventional pigtail connectors 141, 143 to a common heavy duty power cord 145 which is provided with a conventional plug connector 150.

At this point, it might be noted that the motor assembly 109 or both motor assemblies 109, 109 are provided with a conventional internal slip clutch whereby the delta shaped indicators may be set much in the manner of a conventional clock hand.

Having described the invention in detail, it will be apparent that various changes will occur to those skilled in the art, which changes are within the spirit and scope of the claimed subject matter wherein:

What is claimed is:

1. A printing device for printing time related information on moving objects comprising a hollow drum; a shaft mounting said drum for rotation about its axis, means on the shaft for biasing said drum to a preselected at rest position; means on the outer surface of the drum for frictionally contacting a moving object whereby said drum is rotated from said at rest position as said object moves relative to the position of the axis of the drum astationar rintin means di osed on the drum surface; at leasi ne mo vable printi r ig means mounted on said drum surface and related-to said stationary printing means; means contained in said hollow drum for moving said movable printing means and including an electric motor mounted in said drum, a gear train driven by said motor and driving said movable printing'means; means for connecting said motor to a source of power; said means including an insulating disc fixed to said shaft, said disc having a pair of concentric annular electrically conductive bands carried thereon, a pair of electrically conductive brushes mounted on said drum and movable therewith in conductive contact with said conductive bands, and first electrically conductive means connecting said conductive bands to an external source of electrical power and second electrically conductive means for connecting said brushes to said electric motorwhereby said motor is operative in all positions of said drum relative to said shaft.

2. The printing device defined in claim 1', wherein the at rest positioning means comprising a cam follower mounted onsaid drum and a'cam means mounted sta tionary but axially movable on said shaft and means biasing said cam means, said cam means having a low point toward which said follower is biased by said cam.

3. The printing device defined in claim 1 wherein said movable printing means is in the form of a pointer rotatable about a fixed axis and wherein said stationary printing means is concentric with said axis and surrounds said pointer. t

4. A printing device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said conductive disc is mounted on said shaft at its one end and said cam is mounted on said shaft for axial movement toward and away from the opposite end of the shaft.

5. A printing device as set forth in claim 1, wherein a second electric motor is disposed within saidhollow drum and conductively connected to said disc, and a second movable printing means is disposed on the surface'of said drum whereby one of said printing means designates the hour and the other of said printing means designates the minute at which an object passes by and is imprinted by said device.

6. A printing device as defined in claim 1 wherein the end closure for said hollow drum is removable and has a central aperture through which one of said flexible electrical conductors extends for connection to a power source.

7. A printing device as defined in claim 1 wherein said printing means are comprised of ink receptive resilient surfaces and further wherein an inking device is disposed adjacent the drum to ink said surfaces with each rotation of the drum and prior to contact with the object to be imprinted.v 

1. A printing device for printing time related information on moving objects comprising a hollow drum; a shaft mounting said drum for rotation about its axis, means on the shaft for biasing said drum to a preselected at rest position; means on the outer surface of the drum for frictionally contacting a moving object whereby said drum is rotated from said at rest position as said object moves relative to the position of the axis of the drum; a stationary printing means disposed on the drum surface; at least one movable printing means mounted on said drum surface and related to said stationary printing means; means contained in said hollow drum for moving said movable printing means and including an electric motor mounted in said drum, a gear train driven by said motor and driving said movable printing means; means for connecting said motor to a source of power; said means including an insulating disc fixed to said shaft, said disc having a pair of concentric annular electrically conductive bands carried thereon, a pair of electrically conductive brushes mounted on said drum and movable therewith in conductive contact with said conductive bands, and first electrically conductive means connecting said conductive bands to an external source of electrical power and second electrically conductive means for connecting said brushes to said electric motor whereby said motor is operative in all positions of said drum relative to said shaft.
 2. The printing device defined in claim 1, wherein the at rest positioning means comprises a cam follower mounted on said drum and a cam means mounted stationary but axially movable on said shaft and means biasing said cam means, said cam means having a low point toward which said follower is biased by said cam.
 3. The printing device defined in claim 1 wherein said movable printing means is in the form of a pointer rotatable about a fixed axis and wherein said stationary printing means is concentric with said axis and surrounds said pointer.
 4. A printing device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said conductive disc is mounted on said shaft at its one end and said cam is mounted on said shaft for axial movement toward and away from the opposite end of the shaft.
 5. A printing device as set forth in claim 1, wherein a second electric motor is disposed within said hollow drum and conductively connected to said disc, and a second movable printing means is disposed on the surface of said drum whereby one of said printing means designates the hour and the other of said printing means designates the minute at which an object passes by and is imprinted by said device.
 6. A printing device as defined in claim 1 wherein the end closure for said hollow drum is removable anD has a central aperture through which one of said flexible electrical conductors extends for connection to a power source.
 7. A printing device as defined in claim 1 wherein said printing means are comprised of ink receptive resilient surfaces and further wherein an inking device is disposed adjacent the drum to ink said surfaces with each rotation of the drum and prior to contact with the object to be imprinted. 